Reviews by BitterLover:

12oz bottle into an English pint pub glass. This glass rocks for 12 ouncers because the glass flares right where the head forms, allowing the beer to spread out and exhale. Plus, the flare helps you hold onto it after a couple of DIPAs. :-)

A - Pours a deep reddish copper color. The exuberant, almost two finger ivory colored head made of tiny bubbles died down after a few minutes, leaving very intricate lacing around the entire glass, reminding me of a garter around a woman's thigh.

S - I knew this was going to be good when the aroma hit me as soon as I began pouring. Strong citrus nose, especially oranges and grapefruit, with pine resin thrown in to keep the olfactory entertained.

T - Anything but subtle. The big hop bitterness (85 IBU) assaults your taste buds initially, then there's a brief flash of cinnamon red hot candy and some malty sweetness mixed with alcohol heat, but then the bitterness rushes back in to remind you who's boss here. Enjoy the long, lingering bitter finish.

M - Thick with a small amount of carbonation.

D - At over 10% ABV you would have to be an NFL tackle to drink more than two in an evening and not wake up in your neighbor's front yard the next day. That, plus the extreme flavor of this beer made me knock the drinkability down a bit.

Really a great beer! I'll lay one or two of these down for a year and see how they age.

More User Reviews:

4.24/5 rDev +8.7%look: 4 | smell: 5 | taste: 4 | feel: 4 | overall: 4

I admit I have been kind of a harsh critic on Flying Dog in the past but this beer erases a bit of that,poured a light copper color with a big fluffy 1one finger white head. If your a hophead like me the aromas are sublime deep resiny pine and grapefruit rind not much else just intense hoppy goodness,the flavors are not as intense but its still a hop driven palate no doubt very resiny like in the nose big pine elements with the citrus somewaht taking a backseat malt well its there but its in a dryer form and pretty well hidden.Iam burping hops so thats a good thing a good brew from Flying Dog.

Appearance - This beer is gorgeous! The body is a thick, rich, darkish orange shaded in a pleasant brown hue. The head is enormous but not overly foamy. It is off-white and would have stayed the night had I let it. When I finally started sipping it down it left a heavy film with beautiful latticework on the inside of my St Bernardus glass.

Smell - This malty beast has an abundance of smells. The malt is a combination of heavy maple syrup and light chocolate over top a backbone of thick, rich grain. The hops are huge but somewhat hidden by the malts. There's a stiff resiny pine followed quickly by a strong aroma of tangerine. The grand finale of this bouquet is a lovely collection of fresh fruits led principally by raisins and figs.

Taste - I hate to say that this isn't hoppy, because the hops again are huge at the taste, but this malt profile is a monster. It comes off just as it did in the nose, so ditto from above.

Mouthfeel - This is full-bodied and slippery on the tongue with a bitterness that would be overpowering except for the abundance of sweets. I don't really think that there's any alcohol in here because I can't taste any. They just put that 11.50% rating on the bottle to entice the college kids to buy it.

Drinkability - If it's possible to make a high-alcohol DIPA chugging ale then this is it. I mean, this goes down so quickly it's irresponsible to brew. The folks at Flying Dog should be tried and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

Update - Well, kind of a backwards in time update. I bought a case of this stuff two years ago and cellared some of it. I never wrote a review on the fresh bottles I drank so although this review is in Aug 09 I first tasted it in 2007 and this bottle I drank same-day as the fresh one was two years old.

Since this was such a malty DIPA I figured all the hops would be gone after two years, but surprising there was still a good amount left. They had blended more with the malt, but what surprised me was the rise in spicing. I picked up some light spices in the fresh bottle, not enough to really mention or even identify in my review, but after two years in the cellar they really came out. There's a nice herbal aroma like a mild oregano and some deep peppery notes along with some exotic spices that you'd find in an Indian or maybe Mediteranean dish. Overall though I'd say the ale was a little too broken town to be enjoyable and that this Double Dog, like most DIPAs, is best drank fresh off the shelf.

Update - Had the opportunity to try a fresh 2010 and it is exactly along the lines of my original review. It is one of the most beautiful beers that I've ever seen, definitely a 5 in its Appearance, and incredibly drinkable again with a 5 rating. The 4.5's that I gave it are agonizingly close to 5s.

This is truly an exceptional ipa. From beginning to end this double ipa lets you live the great wonders of hops, hops, and more hops any time you need. Pours mid-orange with a one inch off white head that drops to a foamy top that last the whole 12ozs. Leaves nice lacing letting you know that this beer has body. The smell is of piney hops, rich malts and alcohol. The taste is similar to the smell but has an excellent balance allowing you to enjoy the hoppy goodness and still get the buzz of the 11.5% alcohol content it carries. Very easy to drink for me mostly because i love a ipa in any standard, but i think others will enjoy also.

A: Dark coppery in color, clear with a careful pour, with a light frothy head. Head quickly recedes to a thin layer. Good lacing.

S: Fantastic floral hops dominate the nose. If you look for them, there are some very light caramel malt aromas beneath the hops.

T&M: Taste is that of a flow of fresh hops riding a wave of caramel malts, all crashing over the tongue in a creamy curl. Light carbonation works well with the entire mix. Although malty, the finish is fully bitter, with just the faintest bit of malt on the linger and a touch of warming.

D: Although the ABV is pretty heavy with this brew, the alcohol is well masked by the malts and hops, making the brew easy to drink, though the ABV does catch up to you plenty fast enough.

A - Deep amber with some red hues. Pours with a big head that fades to a covering, moderate carbonation, and a bit of lace.

S - Lots of citrus and pine up front with some sweet caramel on the follow through.

T - Hop blast up front, but a nice load of malt to go with it. The hops continue throughout and there is a nice alcohol bit on the finish.

M - This is a deceptively large beer. This could easily be syrupy and a bit heavy, but I think it has a nice moderate body and the carbonation and alcohol make for a nice clean finish for such a big beer.

D - This beer is big, but I think remarkably drinkable. It finishes much cleaner than something with a 11.25% ABV. This is a straight forward and very good beer.

12oz bottle. 2008 Vintage. Pours into my glass a deep red/orange with good clarity and a half inch of light tan foam on top. Aromas spring out of the glass with dense caramel malts topped by a heavy handed amount of piney, citric, oily hops. Notes of grapefruit and herbal hop resins abound. Somewhat earthy as well.

First sip brings thick caramel and sweet bread malts across the palate that immediately sweep into a whirlpool of hops. Citrus and pine flavors intermingle with grapefruit accents and earthy, herbal hops resins working their way around each sip. As it flows down I get a slightly roasted flavor, some alcohol and a bold bitterness on the back of the palate. A bold hop monster that also has plenty of malt to back it up. Tasty brew.

Mouthfeel is big, chewy and viscous...it really grabs hold as it goes down. Overall, easily one of my favorite Flying Dog offerings I've had so far. I can't see drinking more than a couple of these, but this one is well worth checking out for the hop lovers out there.

Pours with over an inch of light tan head. Reduced to a dense layer on top that wraps its way up the glass with a strong hold. Cloudy orange, caramel body. Outside of the cloudy body this has superb head and retention for a beer of this size.

Piney, citrusy, and even some tropical fruits. It smelled strongly of pineapple when I first popped the top. Pretty strong aroma, lots of hops as expected. Little malting comes through.

Interesting flavor. Has a definate strong malt backbone which I have a hard time pinning down. Lots of hops over the top, floral and citrus. Has a little biscuit in the finish and then some pine resin finish.

Good medium to full mouthfeel. Slight carbonation level, could use a bit more to add a crispness. Coats the mouthwell. Flavor lingers, but not overly bitter.

Pretty good drinkability. Nicely hopped and pretty balanced overall. A good beer for sure.

A 12oz bottle with Vintage 08 stamped on the label. Poured into a pint glass, it was a red/orange color with a thin tan head. Aroma was all citrus. A strong taste of grapefruit. Not too intense, but still plenty hoppy. Nice lingering bitterness. Quite drinkable, but be careful of the 10.5% ABV.

Poured from the 12 oz bottle into a pint glass - noticed a surprising amount of head right away. The swirling and churning inside the glass as the head receded was quite pleasant actually.

Appearance - Amber color, mysterious, semi-opaque. The lacing really

Smell - I could smell was grapefruit and hops, enjoyable and refreshing.

Taste - When it hits your tongue it is almost too sweet when it hits the front sweet receptors on the tongue. But then the bitter/citrusy flavor overpowers the initial sweetness. As the beer warmed up towards the bottom of the glass, the bitterness seemed to mellow out a bit.

Mouthfeel - Not too carbonated. Very heavy on the tongue, almost syrupy. Definitely my one of my favorite aspects of this beer.

Drinkability - I wanted another, but it's so damn alcoholic at 11.5% abv, you have to watch yourself. I've only found them bottled in packs of four, which makes sense...

The few millimeters of microscopic bubbles present like a traditional macrobrew. Though the foam cap has impressive staying power, there is nothing distinguished about it. Its relative darkness gives this double pale ale a malty mug. For what it's worth, this head looks like it would last forever were it left undisturbed....

As I cram my nose into the snow-like sop, I smell a much hoppier concoction than I see. It's not like a traditional India Pale, and there's certainly no citrusy pineapple California in this one, but its nose IS a hopped-up pale ale. True to its label description, though, there is a malty sweetness in the scent. It reminds me of a DFH 90min.

The taste is surprisingly good. The body is light like its translucence and hopped-up with a malt-kiss like the smell. It's exactly what it purports to be. If you give bonus points for subtle or hidden alcohol, this one seems far from the 11.5% it reportedly carries! I'm venturing into mouthfeel here, but this beer is like a hoppy rice cake--if rice cakes were enjoyable and satisfying. What I'm getting at is that there's a great juxtaposition here between the light look and airy feel of this liquid as compared to its hop presence and 11.5-ness. Editor's note: wifey just took a sip and said "Whoa. How strong is this?" Ascertain for yourself my inherent biases. To me, it tastes great and is less filling.

When I inevitably saw the A- rating here (I still wish I could somehow avoid that just before a review), I thought I'd negatively skew the average. Maybe I should get off my high horse and quit buying only singles at my fancy wine & craft beer store. $8.99/4-pack at my local Teeter, this jewel seems delightful. I might actually be compensating too positively because of expectations, but this is really a well-balanced, relatively easy-drinking double pale ale. Having read the label, however, I'll refrain from having a session with the Double Dog.

Pours a murky orange/copper with a solid inch of fluffy white foam on top. The head slowly dissipates and leaves a creamy cap on top of the brew along with substantial lacing on the sides of the glass.

Smells are very citrus focused - high hop rates (85 IBU) and scents of lemon/orange/pine.

Creamy mouthfeel that quickly gives way to a bitter hop bite and alcohol warmness. Bitter aftertaste remains on the palette for a while after sipping. I would like a little more malty backbone to stand up to this high alcohol, bitter double IPA.

I'm sure 12-24 oz. of this potent beer will good for one sitting. Very drinkable, but in smaller quantities.

Pours from 12oz bottle into tulip glass a surprisingly clear dark amber. Little to no head but foam ring around edge leaves moderate lacing down glass. Aroma is grapefruit and pine with some sweet carmel malts. Taste is hard to pin down. Pine is the dominant flavor with carmel and grapefruit in the background. Excellent blend. Not as sweet as most DIPAs, which is a plus. Mouthfeel is smooth and satisfying. Scary drinkable at ABV. Excellent DIPA.

Tasting is from a 12 oz bottle. It has a very nice copper color with about half inch head of foam. I’m picking up malts and hops in the smell, but nothing very distinctive --- maybe a touch of caramel and a hint of the strong alcohol that is coming. The taste is a wonderful, oily mixture of hops and malts that blends together wonderfully. Not as bitter as a traditional pale ale, but a very full bodied beer with a touch of Scottish ale characteristics. You can taste the whiskey like 11.5% ABV in it. I pick up the bitterness and some sweetness is the aftertaste. I could drink this beer often! It’s very good, but strong alomst a Barleywine --- not really a pale ale (or double).